grow out time for ric

[clowdy]

i'm hoping to start propagating some ricordea and i was wondering how long they take to grow to a reasonable size (half dollar or so)? and what kind of light have you all had the best results with for ricordea? i feel like MH is an overkill so i'm stuck in the PC vs VHO quandry.

[Mandoman]

Mine went crazy under MHs, but they do fine in another tank under PCs. Under MHs, I had some green ones get 4" in diameter. Had so many that I consider them pests now. They like lots of light.

[worf59]

Clowdy

It depends on how large the cutting is as to how long it will take to reach the given size. Obviously, the bigger the cutting the sooner it will probably reach the size you want.
In my experience to go from nickel to half dollar size takes about 6 months, with feeding every other day.
I have my best ones in a 10 gallon with 72 watts of PC lights. I feed on average every other day with seafood meats.
Ricordia are notoriously slow growers, which contributes to the price per polyp.
I only have ricordia florida so I can't really say much about yuma. Maybe someone else can chime in on that one.
HTH

[Reefrunner262]

Just looking but i have a question about my ricordea to! Alright i have hmmmm 450 watts of light, 150 of VHO (for actinic) and a dual 150 MH, where did you place your ricordea with best growth? TOP,MID,BOT? Remember i have like 450 watts over a 55 gal but it will be 9 inches for water.. and the top of my LR is about 3-5 inches from the top! Can someone help?

TIA
Travis

[worf59]

Reefrunner

A friend of mine has dual 175's with VHO actinics on his tank and he has his ricordia in the top 1/4 of the tank. They grow good for him there.
If yours are at the bottom of the tank now, I would acclimate them up slowly over a few weeks to get them higher.
HTH

[Mandoman]

my big rics were 3-4 inches below the water surface. @50 watt Iwasakis were 9 inches above that, so they were getting sunburned:cool:
And they loved it.
Also had some near the bottom of the tank and they did well, too, not as big, however. The ones in the pic are about 2 inches across.